Mallory Young signed scholarship papers to run track and cross country at Belmont University in Nashville. She's shown seated in the middle flanked by her parents Tony and Pinky while Signal Mountain coaches Beverly Blackwell and Dustin Carpenter are standing.
It's hard to believe that Mallory Young's high school running career is almost over, but it's amazing how time flies when you're having fun.
Young is now a senior at Signal Mountain and she'll be graduating soon, but she'll just keep running as she just signed scholarship papers to continue her career at Belmont University in Nashville.
Young never won an individual state title in cross country although she earned All-State honors for the last three years after finishing sixth as a sophomore and third the last two falls. However, she was the leader for the team as the Lady Eagles won state titles the last two years.
And just last spring, the Lady Eagles earned the Class A-AA state title in track as Young won the 1600, finished second in the 800 and third in the 3200 as she personally scored 24 points, which was almost a third of the team total.
Young had her fastest 5K time for cross country at the Front Runner Invitational when she posted an impressive time of 17:59, becoming the first girl in Chattanooga to ever break 18 minutes in a local event. Probably the most important part of that result is the fact that she ran alone for most of the race and looked fresh as a daisy when she crossed the finish line.
But for a 17-year-old young lady who is involved in many extracurricular activities in addition to track and cross country, signing scholarship papers with the Bruins is a big deal and the next level for her budding running career.
"It has been a special time running for Signal Mountain, but I still feel like a freshman," she said while sharing the event with a host of friends and family members on the top floor of the Liberty Tower Monday evening.
"We've had several coaches along the way, but my dad has always been there and he's the one who creates all of our workouts," she said, noting that her father Tony ran at Tennessee in the mid 80s and knows just a little bit about competitive track and cross country.
"We've had a blast. Winning the state the last two years was really fun. We were all pretty nervous this year as the pressure to repeat as champions was strong, but we all knew what we had to do and everyone responded with their best races," she continued, noting that she had her best time of 19:18 on that course this year after finishing in 19:54 a year ago.
"I really thought I'd end up at Tennessee, but that was before I made my visit to Belmont. Coach Ashley Casavant has been so nice and all of the girls really welcomed me, so I really feel like I'm making the best decision for me," she nodded.
Beverly Blackwell has been one of Mallory's coaches since she first joined the team as an eighth grader. She's watched the progress since the beginning and she knows just how much Mallory has meant to the success of the Signal Mountain team.
"She has been a huge contributor to our success from the start. The bar has been set pretty high as she's been a great role model for the younger girls and has really been a coaches dream," Blackwell said with a smile.
"Mallory has a really strong work ethic and she normally trained with the guys because we didn't have any other girls who could keep up with her. But she's had a great career and I'm looking for bigger and better things this spring," she added.
Kim Brown is another coach who had the opportunity to work with Young. She too had really nice things to say about the middle daughter of Tony and Pinky Young.
"Mallory is a special young lady and probably the most self-motivated teenager I've ever worked with. She's known what she was looking for and knew what she had to do to get there. She really wants it and I'm certain that she'll continue to get better as her best days are yet to come," Brown began.
"Most young people are concerned about the present, but Mallory is always planning for the future. What she's done at Signal Mountain is remarkable. Being the number-one runner in the state of Tennessee is often a lofty goal, but she did as well as she possibly could and has nothing to be ashamed of.
"She always looked like she had something left at the end of each race as she was very poised, but it was always fun to watch her run as she had such a graceful stride," she added.
While Belmont is her official choice, she also had offers from Tennessee, Arkansas State, Samford, South Alabama and UTC among others.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)